Target’s Mantra: Be Big, Keep Growing, Come Across As Small

ORLANDO—With 1,800 stores, Target’s biggest challenges don’t include size. “We’re big. We have scale,” says CMO Rick Gomez. The trick is to seem small as the chain expands and tries to provide a singularly unique shopper experience on the ground and online.

It’s a situation that many retailers would love to find themselves in, Gomez explains in this interview with Beet.TV at the recent Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference.

“The retail industry is going through a massive transformation,” Gomez says. “If you read the headlines, what you’re reading about is there are so many retailers that are on the verge of bankruptcy or actually going bankrupt. They’re closing stores.

“Those retailers that are going to survive are going to be the ones that can invest to create a differentiated, compelling guest experience.”

For Target, whose brick-and-mortar locations and online presence Gomez says are frequented by 80% of Americans, investments are made with an eye toward creation a shopper experience that can’t be found elsewhere. “We’re remodeling our stores, we’re opening new stores in urban locations, on college campuses, we’re investing in supply chain so we can get product to you faster than anybody else and we’re launching a ton of new owned brands,” he says.

So the Target challenge is “how do we come across as small? How do we come across as local? How do we come across as your Target?”

While mass-targeted advertising across the country is a given, Target also invests in such a way that’s “very bespoke for that community.” Tactics can include charitable works and local events to “make sure that we’re showing up in a way that’s going to be relevant for that neighborhood.”

Asked about the work he does with the CMO Council partnership of the ANA and the Cannes advertising festival, whose representatives gathered in Orlando recently, Gomez points to common issues as a binding element.

“It doesn’t really matter what industry you’re in or how big your company is. We’re all dealing with the same challenges. And Cannes gives us a great forum to get together to talk about the solutions and that’s what I expect to happen in June.”

His hope for the agenda next June in Cannes is “that it becomes very clear, specific and tangible and that we have some early wins so it can build some momentum.”

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